NV The Other Wine Co. ‘Savagnin № 2’ Fleurieu

Home > Wines We Love > NV The Other Wine Co. ‘Savagnin № 2’

A heady riot of unusual flavours that demonstrates why a handful of wine-lovers adore savagnin that has been matured under a ‘veil’ of flor yeast.

Producer
The Other Wine Co
Region

Fleurieu
RRP

$30
Vintage

2021–22
Variety/Varieties

Savagnin
Alc./Vol.

13.5%

Savagnin is one slippery customer of a grape variety. It landed in Australia in the 1980s labelled as ‘albariño’ – a clerical error that wasn’t discovered until 2008, and was the cause of a lot of angst at the time – and is now made in a wide array of styles, from crisp, fresh wines fermented in stainless steel to rich, round, chardonnay-like expressions. A small number of producers also make savagnin sous voile (under a veil of flor yeast), and The Other Wine Co.’s example of this relatively niche style – made by 2025 Young Gun of Wine Finalist Matt Large – ticks all of the boxes of what makes these wines brilliant to drink.

Tasting note

The nose of this wine lets you know you’ll be in for a wild ride: there’s tangy Moroccan-style preserved lemon, sea spray, funky parmesan rind, sourdough starter in its glass jar, pine nuts freshly toasted in a frying pan, curry leaf, struck matchstick … and, peeking through this riot of unusual aromas, just the barest hint of just-ripe quince and bruised Granny Smith apple. Savagnin’s trademark brisk, angular acidity leads on the palate, barrelling these intriguing flavours down the tongue to the mid-palate, where the wine slows its roll and develops some weight and flesh. The wine fans out on the finish, disappearing into a lingering haze of lemon zest, sea salt, and a touch of appealing pithy bitterness. As with all other sous voile savagnins, this is definitely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea – but if you’re not afraid of complexity and character, this might be your new favourite white wine. Try it with a freshly-cracked tin of Spanish anchovies and some toasted sourdough, and let the funk take you over.

Themes of this wine

Sous voile/flor yeast

Literally translated as ‘under veil’, sous voile is a method of maturing wine where the barrels are not topped, and a film of flor yeast develops on top of the wine. This ‘veil’ protects the wine from oxidation, while converting the acids to aldehydes, which give dry Sherry its characteristic nutty and briny notes. The same process is employed in France’s Jura region to make the famous vin jaune (literally, ‘yellow wine’).

Savagnin

Best known for the wines of the Jura in France’s north-east, savagnin was introduced to Australia as somewhat of a stowaway. The first vines were planted at a time when vine cuttings were mislabelled, with plantings of what was thought to be albariño correctly identified as savagnin in 2009. While at the time this was of real consternation to growers, a subsequent interest in the wines of the Jura has seen that accident reframed as a somewhat happy one.

Fleurieu

The Fleurieu is a wine zone in South Australia that encompasses the regions of Currency Creek, Kangaroo Island, Langhorne Creek, McLaren Vale and Southern Fleurieu. While the regions are varied, they are all characterised by coastal influences, with climates ranging from Mediterranean to distinctly maritime.

Home > Wines We Love > 2019 The Other Wine Co Grenache

Red fruits matched with spicy, earthy complexity – easy to love, but with detail for those that care to look.

Producer
The Other Wine Co
Region

McLaren Vale
RRP

$27
Vintage

2019
Variety/Varieties

Grenache
Alc./Vol.

13.5%

From 45-year-old vines planted to sandy soils in McLaren Vale, this has the makings of a top-priced offering, but in the creative hands of The Other Wine Co. its price tag is refreshingly democratic. As is the wine, with engaging red fruits matched with spicy, earthy complexity – easy to love, but with detail for those that care to look.

Tasting note

This pops with the bright side of grenache, with wild raspberry, maraschino and redcurrant, but unlike many wines from the variety, it skips the confectionary side of things, slotting in some hard herbs, subtle spice and a palate that has sneakily grippy tannins, all suggesting some expertly handled whole-bunch fermentation. Expressing the forward joy of the grape, this is backed up with some old-vine intensity and quietly confident winemaking – it’s serious enough, but you might be having too much fun to notice.

Themes of this wine

Grenache

The great grape of the Southern Rhône, grenache, has also found many homes around the world, from Spain, to Italy, to California, while Australia is home to the world’s oldest productive grenache vines, planted in 1848. Today, a renaissance is seeing the grape championed, with makers in McLaren Vale arguably turning out the most compelling examples.

McLaren Vale

While it couldn’t feel any more removed from city life, the McLaren Vale wine region is inside Adelaide’s metropolitan area. And although the township itself is only 40 minutes by car from central Adelaide and vineyards brush up against ever-encroaching housing, McLaren Vale remains unaffected by the urban sprawl. With deeply etched history, the Vale has a slow-paced sense of calm and an extraordinary wealth of untrammelled beauty. It is home to some of this country’s most beautifully pristine beaches, as well as some of the world’s most forward-thinking grape-growers and winemakers. And with over 80 cellar doors, it is an essential destination for wine lovers – and anyone else, for that matter.

Whole bunch

Before grapes are fermented, they are often de-stemmed, but they can also be left as whole bunches. Some winemakers will include a small or large portion in their ferments, with the rest destemmed, or less commonly they will leave all bunches intact. The impact of fermenting with whole bunches will create slightly different flavour profiles than if destemmed, with the grape stalks adding spice notes, and sometimes a green stemmy character, while also bringing in more tannin, and tannin with a different feel and texture to grape skin/seed or oak tannin. And while these added characters are quite savoury, the grapes in a ferment like this often remain whole for longer, meaning they start fermenting inside the berries first, which can bring a very bright fruit profile to the flavour mix. Any grape variety can be fermented with whole bunches, even white ones, but the technique is most associated with pinot noir, shiraz, gamay and grenache.

NV The Other Wine Co. ‘Savagnin № 2’ Fleurieu

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Sous voile/flor yeast

Savagnin

Fleurieu

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Grenache

McLaren Vale

Whole bunch

Bookmark this job

Save this search

Create Resume